Fell Off the Mountain
by moonswirl
Summary: Gleekathon, day three hundred and fourteen: The two of them have had quite the long year, and it's almost done.


_Started my daily ficlets to make the hiatus pass, then decided to keep going with a 2nd cycle, and then a 3rd, 4th, etc through 14th cycle. Now cycle 15!_

_A/N: Sorry so late, today was crap and more crap..._

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**"Feel Off The Mountain"  
Will & Quinn **

They had all heard Mrs. Fabray calling and they had all come running. Finding Quinn, standing frozen with one hand to the wall and the other to her belly, the situation revealed itself… and it brought madness. Everyone spoke at once, reflecting on what they should do, but nothing was coming of it. And then Quinn cried out, and Will moved into action, scooping her up.

"Okay, come on, let's go," he hurried toward the door. From the sound of the feet behind them, he knew the others had snapped to and followed. Brittany and Tina ran ahead, clearing the way as they went. When they got outside, they dashed to flag down the bus driver. Everyone but Rachel got on board; Artie was helped in as Will carried Quinn in, putting her on the seat with her mother. Puck and Finn sat on the seats in front of and behind Quinn, asking questions and being shut down by the girl in labor. Will, himself, sat across the aisle, looking back at them all. He'd been all action up until then, but now… He wasn't thinking about the competition, the club, the stakes… In that moment it was all about the baby, and Quinn… and, through that, in some ways it was about him, too.

He could remember the girl that had waltzed into his class and announced she wished to audition for Glee Club. At the time, she just seemed on top of her game… so did Will.

Ever since then though, they'd been falling, both of them, all the time. He couldn't chase the words they'd shared in his kitchen just days ago… it had been a long year, such a long year… Now if they could just get through this day, then it would be over… no matter what happened.

If he ever thought about the whole thing, he couldn't help feeling sorry for her, for all of them that were involved. Sure, they'd made decisions, but they were still kids. The kind of things they'd experienced, himself included, were difficult regardless of age, but at the very least he had the benefit of age over her. Of course, save for a few slip-ups, she had revealed an ability to carry herself with maturity beyond her years. He could see how costly it had been to her though…

She was looking at him, even as her body worked itself closer and closer to delivery… like she knew… She knew what he was thinking about, about her, about himself…

He'd been living an illusion, the world letting believe his life was one thing when really it was another… A happy marriage that was not… A rewarding career that was not… A self-satisfaction that was far from. He had been hypnotized into thinking dreams didn't matter enough to be followed, just because someone else thought so.

Here again there had been a price to pay for getting the wool off from his eyes. He'd been walking blindly for so long that it seemed he'd forgotten how to do it… Maybe he'd never known how to, not really. But then in the meantime, as he tried to learn, he took missteps. He just kept tripping, tumbling, further and further down.

They'd reach terminal velocity if they didn't find a way to steady; if they didn't stop, they'd crash… Neither of them wanted to even think about what that would mean.

The bus driver announced they were arriving and, after the ride, someone finally snapped out of uncertainty, following in Will's suit of action. Puck looked to the mother of his child before turning to his teacher. "I've got her," he nodded. Will quietly nodded back. Switching roles now, Puck helped Quinn down and into one wheelchair, while Will helped Artie into another. The group charged into the hospital and, from the back of the pack, Will could hear Mrs. Fabray find someone to assist with Quinn. As they all stopped, watched the pack of four separated from them, Will thought…

They would win… Oh, they had to, somehow. And then, when they won… He'd make it his mission, to slow their descent. Maybe then they could start anew… ascend. The peak might take a while to reach again, but it would be worth the wait, the effort. It would be a new peak, where things would be better. They'd shed the parts of their lives which had brought them pain; it could only get better now.

The thing about falling was that, as much as that pain was part of it, there could be strength within it; they just had to land on their feet first. There was no way of knowing before. There were leaps, where you took chances, and falls, where chances were thrust upon you, with the results left to be determined. They had most certainly fallen.

THE END

_[A/N: Attention, reader! If you're at all skilled in helping break fic-planning conundrums, give a big ol' shout! :D]  
(Note to self, don't put the words 'crack' and 'fic' next to each other, it leads to confusion ;))_

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**_[A/N: This is a one-shot ficlet, story alert won't get you anything! ;)]_**


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